In general, an airbag system is a safety device for protecting a passenger, in which an impact, at the time of a vehicle collision, is sensed by a sensor installed in the vehicle body and inputted to a microcomputer, where the microcomputer determines whether to deploy the airbag or not on the basis of impact severity. If it is determined that an operation for deploying the airbag is needed, the microcomputer sends an electric signal to an inflator, so that a gas generating agent is burnt so as to expand the airbag, thereby protecting the passenger.
The airbag restrains the head and chest of the passenger, thereby protecting the passenger from secondary collision with the steering wheel or the wind shield of the vehicle; although the time for deploying the airbag may vary depending on the type and velocity of the vehicle collision, the time required for determining the collision from the collision is about 10 ms and the airbag should be fully deployed and expanded within a very short time of 30 to 40 ms after the electric signal is outputted.
The airbag system is required to be highly reliable in operation in view of the fact that the airbag system must operate to assure the deployment and expansion of the airbag when a vehicular accident occurs, whereas the airbag system should not operate when the deployment or expansion of the airbag is not necessary.
In addition, when a lateral collision of the vehicle occurs, the roof side rail area is often severely deformed and protrudes into the cabin of the vehicle. Due to this, the head of the passenger may be seriously injured. In order to prevent such injury, curtain airbags are installed along the entire roof liner area of the vehicle.
At the time of operation, such a curtain airbag shall be deployed and expanded without destroying the front pillar trim. However, according to prior systems, at the time when such a curtain airbag is deployed and expanded, the head lining is deformed, while the front pillar trim is not deformed. Accordingly, there is a problem in that the front pillar trim is destroyed by the expansion force of the curtain airbag.
The front pillar trim is destroyed because the head lining is firstly deformed and then the front pillar trim is deformed as the expanding velocity of the curtain airbag is higher at the head lining area than at the front pillar trim area.
To attempt to address this problem, there has been employed a structure in which the head lining can push the front pillar trim simultaneously being deformed at the time when the curtain airbag is deployed. However, as a handle is provided on the front pillar trim area, the handle hinders the front pillar trim from being moved and separated from the associated parts. As a consequence, a problem occurs whereby the curtain airbag may not be deployed.
Because it is a general tendency that SUV's (Sports Utility Vehicles) currently coming on the market are provided with a handle on a front pillar trim area, what is needed are complementary measures for enabling the curtain airbag to operate effectively, as well as for enabling the handle to be conveniently used by a passenger when entering or exiting a vehicle.
The information set forth in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art that is already known to a person skilled in the art.